Lone's Last Shot?

If you have yet to sample Fox's quirky X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen, tonight's finale may be your last shot. After a strong start in March, Gunmen's three conspiracy-obsessed computer geeks have watched their viewership disappear faster than data on an "I Love You" virus-infected hard drive. But it's not all doom and gloom. Last week's episode retained a best-yet 86 percent of its adults 18-49 lead-in from Police Videos (granted, a small victory, but a victory nonetheless), and in a recent USA Today poll, Gunmen ranked second only to the WB's Roswell as the struggling series viewers most want to see return next fall. Still, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the show needs to flex some ratings muscle tonight. But short of hacking into Nielsen's mainframe, what is series creator Chris Carter to do? Well, a little stunt casting couldn't hurt, that's for sure.  Michael Ausiello